Meant to be Kissed
by Placid Destruction
Summary: Oneshot. Slightly AU. James fancied Lily, but he would never admit it. Leave it to the Marauders to come up with the worst possible way to make him act on his feelings.


**Important A/N: **This fic is slightly AU due to the fact that Lily and James do not hate each other and that James has not bothered Lily in the past by asking her out at every opportunity he gets. Other than that, there shouldn't be anything out of canon. I wrote this a long time ago (so no HBP spoilers), but I think I had intended for this to take place in their sixth year. Anyway, on with the story! It's just a one-shot, so don't wait around for updates.

**Meant to be Kissed**

**Disclaimer: **The characters belong to JKR, but I own the plot.

**Summary: **James fancied Lily, but he would never admit it. Leave it to the Marauders to come up with the worst possible way to make him act on his feelings.

Of course, James would be the last one to admit it, but he was completely one hundred percent head-over-heals in love with a girl. He didn't know how he knew it was love, but he definitely knew that it couldn't be anything else. Sure, he had liked loads of other girls over the years, but none of them made him feel like this one did.

At times he thought he would go mad. He didn't think it could be healthy to spend every waking hour thinking about one girl. Actually, he didn't just spend every waking hour thinking about her, he dreamt about her at night as well. Every night he had vivid dreams where a certain redhead finally gave him the time of day. But of course, those were only dreams. She probably didn't give him a second look.

"Prongs!"

James snapped back to reality with a painful jab in the ribs by his best friend, Sirius Black. He looked up to see Professor McGonagall giving him a sharp look as if to warn him against daydreaming in her class, but her couldn't help it. The object of his affections was sitting just two rows in front of him and it was terribly difficult to focus on class when she was right there.

He drifted off again. His constant vegetative state did not go unnoticed by the aforementioned Sirius Black. Sirius noticed how James completely spaced out every time Lily Evans was near and how he could never focus in the classes he had with her. Also, whether by luck or misfortune he didn't know, Sirius shared a dorm with James, which enabled him to hear James muttering about Lily in his sleep.

It was all sickeningly sweet, but it meant nothing since Lily and James barely spoke to one another except when Lily had a question about homework and there was no one else to ask. She would then ask James who would once again turn to mush and mutter "Uh huh" whether it was a yes or no question or not.

All in all, something had to be done, and with twenty minutes left in Transfiguration, Sirius began to devise a plan.

- - - -

Transfiguration was the last class of the day, and it was a good thing, too. James needed to find Remus and copy all of his notes from that day because he had been too preoccupied to take his own.

He entered his dormitory to find his three roommates sitting around and talking about something. He didn't get a chance to hear the conversation because they stopped talking to greet him as soon as he walked through the door.

"What were you guys talking about before I came in?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Sirius was about to tell us his great plan to get some girl to go out with him," Peter said.

James raised an eyebrow to signal for Sirius to continue.

"Well, I've never really spoken to her before so I wasn't quite sure how to approach the situation," he began. "So, I figured I'd surprise her. Girls like surprises, right? This is the ultimate surprise."

Sirius paused for a moment to try to conceal his excitement. The other three leaned forward in anticipation.

"Get on with it, Padfoot," Remus urged.

"So, one day after classes or something, I'll stop her in the hall," Sirius continued. "And I'll just kiss her."

There was silence.

Remus stared at Sirius as though he had lost his mind. Peter shifted slightly in his seat. James stared for a few seconds and then started to laugh.

"That's brilliant, Padfoot!" he exclaimed. "Good luck."

"No it's not," Remus interrupted. "That's an invasion of personal space. How do you know she'll even want you to kiss her?"

Sirius gaped at Remus. "Are you saying you think she might not want to kiss me?"

Moony nodded.

"Of course she will!" Sirius bellowed. "Who wouldn't?"

James raised his hand.

"You don't count," Sirius muttered. "Any girl in her right mind would want to kiss me. I'm a great kisser. This girl will recognize talent. With her good looks, she has probably had her share of men. Just wait, you'll see. She will be begging me to go out with her when I'm through."

Remus still looked skeptical, but James did not.

"I think it's brilliant!" he repeated. "Who's the lucky girl, by the way?"

"Lily Evans."

Those two words hit James like a ton of bricks. His jaw dropped, but it only took him a moment to compose himself.

"Erm." His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Maybe Moony's right. Maybe it's not so brilliant after all."

"Why not?"

"Isn't she going out with that guy?" James faltered. "You know, the one in that house and that year?"

"Prongs," Sirius said exasperatedly. "You're not making any sense. Lily isn't going out with anyone. Everyone knows she broke up with her boyfriend last week and hasn't gone out with anyone since."

"Oh."

Of course James knew that. He had been all too excited when he had heard that Lily had broken up with her boyfriend of two years, but he had to come up with an excuse to keep Sirius away from her.

"That's right," he tried. "And I heard she's been moping around ever since then. She says she wants to get back together with him."

"Nonsense Prongs," Remus offered from the corner. "_She _broke up with _him_. She was very relieved when it happened. In fact, I saw her just yesterday and she's _still _happy about finally being free from him."

James decided to try one more time.

"Then maybe she wants to stay single for a while before she starts dating again."

Sirius snorted. "Don't be stupid. Once she kisses me, she will want to be my girlfriend no matter what. It's foolproof. I don't know why you're getting so worked up about this."

James sighed in defeat. He couldn't think of any more excuses. Maybe some things just weren't meant to be.

- - - -

That night, James lay awake in his bed listening to Sirius snore. He could not sleep. Only a few hours before he had come to learn that his best friend intended to date the girl _he _loved.

It wasn't fair. James cared for Lily more than Sirius ever could. He just couldn't admit it out loud. Besides, if he was going to say anything about his feelings for Lily, it would be to Sirius because they were best friends, but now he couldn't because Sirius would get mad at him. He would accuse James of being jealous or something and it could ruin their friendship.

The thought that maybe he was overreacting crossed James's mind. Maybe Sirius would understand when James told him he had liked Lily since before he had discovered that Sirius did too, but maybe he wouldn't. Chances are he wouldn't understand. That was just how Sirius was.

Sirius snored loudly and rolled over. James could only imagine what he was dreaming about. He was willing to bet that Sirius did not dream about Lily every night. No, Sirius's dreams were almost definitely Lily-free, but not James's. If he was ever able to fall asleep again, he would find himself staring into the face of a certain Gryffindor prefect. He did not want to think about her anymore. He had to get over her for Sirius…

James entered the common room through the portrait hole just like he did every day. Looking around, he found his friends near the fireplace. Remus and Peter were playing chess at a nearby table.

"_Hey," he said, setting his bag down on the floor and sitting down in a chair to watch their game. "Who's winning?"_

_Peter shot him a look that said "stupid question" and gestured toward the board where only his king and three pawns remained. Remus always won at chess, especially when he was playing Peter._

"_Listen," James said, lowering his voice. "There's something that's been bothering me for the past few months."_

_Remus looked up from the game. "You can tell us. We're your friends. That's what we're here for."_

"_I know." James sighed. "I don't know why I didn't come to you guys sooner."_

"_What's the matter, Prongs?" Peter asked._

"_There's this girl," he said quietly. "And I really like this girl. I can't quite explain it, but it's different from any other girl I've ever liked before."_

_Remus smiled. "Who is she?"_

"_Lily Evans."_

_Remus's smile faltered._

"_Oh," he said. "Erm, James? There's something you should know."_

"_Where's Padfoot?" James asked, suddenly realizing that they were one Marauder short._

"_He's over there," Peter said, pointing. "With his new girlfriend."_

_James looked over to the couch Peter was pointing at to see Sirius practically on top of some girl. But wait, that wasn't just some girl. It was some girl with fiery red hair. Only one girl had hair that color._

"_No," he whispered, turning back to his friends. "Is that…?"_

_They nodded._

"_You should have done something sooner," Remus said solemnly._

James woke up suddenly. He was drenched in a cold sweat. That had been an awful nightmare. Remus's last words kept repeating themselves in his head.

"You should have done something sooner."

He should have done something sooner, but now it was too late. Lily and Sirius would be dating soon and there was nothing he could do about it.

- - - -

The next day, James woke up well before his roommates. He had only gotten about thirty minutes of sleep.

Yawning, he stepped out of the bathroom completely ready for classes just as Remus was waking up.

"You're up early," Remus commented. "Had trouble sleeping?"

"A little bit."

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't understand," James sighed. "It's my problem. I'll handle it."

Remus shrugged and walked into the bathroom.

James sighed and sat down on his bed. That's when Sirius woke up. This was the start of what could soon be the worst day of James's life.

"Morning!" Sirius called cheerfully. "You're up early, Prongs."

"Morning," James mumbled.

"What a great day," Sirius continued. "Today will be perfect. I just have to suffer through classes, and tonight I'll go through with the plan."

"Good luck," James mumbled.

Not able to stand any more of Sirius at the moment, James got up and left the dormitory just as Sirius was shouting, "Oi, Wormtail! Get up and help me find my left shoe. I've lost it again. I swear I think that thing has a mind of its own."

James shook his head at his best friend as he walked down the staircase to the common room. That was just it. Sirius was his best friend. He couldn't stop him from asking a girl out just because he had feelings for her too. It didn't matter if the girl _was _Lily Evans or if he had liked her longer. In fact, he felt bad for being so self-centered.

But all of those thoughts were blown straight out of his head when he reached the bottom of the stairs. There, sitting at a table near the fireplace, was Lily Evans. She did not notice him come in because she was bent over a piece of parchment, scribbling furiously.

Maybe it wasn't too late to do something. Maybe there was still hope. All he had to do was go talk to her and warn her about Sirius. It would be easy.

James suddenly found himself standing right behind Lily's chair. He was suddenly very nervous. He considered running away but found that his feet wouldn't move.

A shadow fell over Lily's parchment and she frowned, looking up to see James hovering over her.

"Oh, hi James," she said cheerfully. "What are you doing up already? Most students are still getting ready for classes."

"I've been up for a while," he said. "What are you doing up?"

"I'm just finishing up a last minute essay." She cocked her head slightly. "Did you need something?"

"Oh, erm." _Think, James. Think._ "I just came over to see how you were doing. You don't look so well."

He placed a hand on her forehead and stuck his wand under her tongue.

"You're warm," he said. "Maybe you should stay in bed today. Just skip classes. I'll bring you your assignments. Trust me, your better off staying away from…other people today."

"Are you okay?" Lily asked. "I don't think _I'm _the sick one here. What are you doing?"

"I've always wanted to be a Healer," he tried.

"No you haven't," she snapped. "You told me you've always wanted to be either a professional Quidditch player or an Auror."

He had forgotten about that.

"Well," he tried again. "Last summer my dad brought home a television and Sirius and I watched a lot of those Muggle programs about medicine. I thought it would be interesting to try it out."

"As long as you don't want to perform surgery on me, it's fine," Lily muttered. "But I'm not skipping classes."

With that, she collected her belongings and left through the portrait hole.

James sighed.

Strike one.

- - - -

"I heard that Evans is terribly sick," James was saying. "You don't want to kiss her today. You'll just catch whatever it is she has."

It was another lie, but James hoped that maybe this one would work and at least buy some more time before Sirius went through with his plan.

"Nonsense," Sirius whispered back. "I saw her at breakfast. She looked perfectly healthy."

"Oh," James muttered. "I guess it was just a rumor."

The professor asked them to please stop talking and pay attention. The two boys _did _stop talking, but paying attention was not quite something they had figured out how to do yet. Instead, they began passing notes.

So how should I do it? Should I just come up behind her, spin her around and kiss her, or should I start a conversation and then kiss her?

**I don't care. I'm not going to be there.**

What do you mean? Of course you're going to be there. I need someone to tell me when she's coming.

**Peter will do it.**

_No, I want you to help me. You're my best mate. Please?_

**Fine. I'll do it. But just so you know, I _really _don't want to watch you snog Evans, so if things get out of hand, I'm leaving.**

Deal.

- - - -

Lunch could have gone a lot better than it did. James couldn't help but stare at Lily the whole time. He tried to look away many times, but always found that two seconds later, he was staring again.

He sighed and put his head down.

After a little while, he began to fall asleep.

James was staring down an aisle. He was dressed in nice dress robes, as were the other people there. They were all on their feet staring down the same aisle as if waiting for something.

He was at a wedding, but whose?

Sirius was standing next to him. He looked up at him and Sirius gave him a nervous smile.

Music started and someone in a white dress came slowly down the aisle. James caught a flash of green when she looked up. He knew those eyes. It was Lily.

Lily and Sirius were getting married.

James started and woke up. Lifting his head from his arms, he looked up to see his friends giving him strange looks.

"You okay, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing."

"Ok, well, we're going to go do something really quick. Do you want to come?"

James said he wanted to stay and finish eating, so his friends left without him, muttering about how strange he had been acting lately. Once they were gone, James slumped down in his seat and began to pick at his roll.

He looked up when somebody slipped into the seat next to his.

"Hey Lily," he muttered. She was the last person he wanted to see.

"Hi," she greeted. "How are you? You were acting a little strange this morning. Your friends said you've been acting like that since yesterday. Then, when I saw them leave without you I figured something must be wrong. They never go anywhere without you."

"No," he sighed. "I just told them I wanted to finish eating. Wait, you talked to my friends?" She nodded. "Sirius didn't…do anything did he?"

Lily looked confused. "No, he wasn't there. I just spoke with Remus and Peter in Arithmancy. They said that you and Sirius were in Muggle Studies."

"Oh. Right."

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

James smiled at how concerned she was.

"I'm fine, Lily," he said. He really hoped he would be.

She still looked uncertain. "If you say so."

Suddenly, James had an idea.

"Here, Lily," he said. "Have a pastry."

She looked at the pastry he was offering her and frowned.

"There are strawberries in there," she cried. "I'm allergic to strawberries! You know that. Are you trying to kill me?"

Maybe. That way neither Sirius nor I could have you and nobody gets hurt…except maybe you.

"No!" he cried. "I forgot. I am so sorry, Lily."

Lily sighed. "It's okay. We all forget sometimes. I have to get to class."

For the second time that day, she stood up and walked away from him, casting furtive glances at him.

Strike two. Only one more strike and he would be out.

James sighed and slumped in his seat again. He looked at the pastry he still held in his hand and threw it across the table.

"Hey! Watch it!"

James looked up to see a first year covered in strawberry. He gave a rushed apology and hurried off to class.

- - - -

Several hours later, James could be found in the library. Or, rather, James was in the library, but he could not be found. He sat under his invisibility cloak in an infrequently visited section of the library. His mission: to spy on Lily Evans.

Under any other circumstances, he would have been delighted to watch Lily from a dark corner of the library, but not today. He had been instructed by Sirius to sit there and watch her until she left. Then, he should hurry ahead to where Sirius was waiting and tell him that she was coming so he could prepare to head her off and, well, you know the plan.

James watched as Lily worked diligently on her essay. Her hair brushed against the parchment when she learned over to write. She got frustrated and threw her quill down once, but quickly recovered and continued scribbling away.

James had to laugh at her antics. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen before. He wanted nothing more than to be able to walk up behind her and hold her hair out of her face so she could see what she was doing. Of course, that would never happen because in only a matter of minutes she would be kissing Sirius and would never think about him again.

She probably thought he was completely insane anyway. He had acted like a mental patient earlier when he tried to kill her with that pastry. He felt bad now. He had known that Lily was allergic to strawberries. That was why he had offered her that exact one. But if she had eaten it, she could have died and it would be all his fault. That would then open up a whole new list of things to mope about. Merlin, he was a terrible person.

During his musings, he had not noticed Lily packing her bag. Now, she was standing up and leaving the library. James followed her stealthily through several hallways to make sure she was going in the right direction. Then, still covered by the cloak, he hurried past her and down to the corridor on the floor below.

"Padfoot, she's coming!" he panted.

Sirius spun around just as James was pulling off his invisibility cloak.

"Hide!" he called to James.

There were footsteps on the stairs and a shadow on the wall. She was coming.

James hid behind a statue and tried to steady his breathing. He could see Lily descend the stairs with Sirius just a short way off. James was between the two. He could stick his foot out and trip Lily, but with his luck, Sirius would catch her before she hit the ground and she would look into his eyes and fall hopelessly in love with him.

Lily walked past James's hiding place and he was suddenly full of confidence. He could do this.

She was getting dangerously close to where Sirius was standing.

"Lily I-" Sirius began, but James cut him off.

Stepping out from behind the statue, James grabbed Lily by the wrist and spun her around to face him. Before any of them had time to comprehend the situation, his lips were on hers. At first, she didn't respond, but after a few seconds she melted into the kiss.

James looked past Lily to where Sirius was standing. He was surprised that his friend did not look mad or even mildly surprised. Instead, he looked extremely overjoyed. He even winked when he saw James looking.

Taken a bit by surprise, James gently pulled away from Lily.

She smiled. "Is that why you've been acting so strange today?"

"Sort of," he replied. "It's a long story. I'll explain later." He looked at Sirius. "Padfoot, I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just-"

Sirius laughed. "Shut up, Prongs. It was all part of the plan."

He gestured toward a statue from which Remus and Peter emerged, identical grins on their faces.

"Finally!" Remus exclaimed. "It certainly took you long enough."

"You three had this all planned?" James asked incredulously. "And here I was making myself sick over the thought of Sirius kissing Lily. She wasn't in on your twisted plot too, was she?"

The other three Marauders shook their heads. Lily looked utterly perplexed.

James leaned down to rest his forehead on Lily's.

"I'm sorry about them," he muttered. "What are you doing on Saturday?"

"I think I'm going to Hogsmeade with you," she replied.

James smiled and kissed her again while his friends cheered in the background.

* * *

**A/N: **The end! It's just a one-shot. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate any feedback.

I may post a few more one-shots before my next multi-chapter. See my profile for more information on coming stories. Thanks!

Cat


End file.
